West Virginia University professor Michael Sherwin will present a Snowshoe Institute Lecture at 4 p.m. March 8 at WVU’s Creative Arts Center Bloch Learning and Performance Hall. 

The lecture is part of Sherwin’s award as selection for the Snowshoe Institute Award of Excellence for Scholarship in the Arts by the College of Creative Arts. The award is for outstanding faculty members in the college and celebrates their current scholarship activity from the most recent two academic years. The purpose of the award is to provide greater visibility to faculty scholars in the College of Creative Arts.

Sherwin, associate professor of photography, has since 2011 been working on Vanishing Points, where he visits significant sites of Native American importance and photographs them. Starting in Morgantown, he has since visited sites in the surrounding Ohio River Valley region as well as the Western and Midwestern portions of the country.

“While showcasing my Vanishing Points project, this presentation will also provide a critique of the historical impacts of colonialism and the idea of wilderness as depicted in nineteenth century paintings, photographs and maps,” Sherwin said of the lecture.

With the recent controversies surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline project, the issues regarding the treatment of sacred land has been brought to light.

Sherwin stated about the connection, “The Vanishing Points project participates in this important conversation, providing a reflection and critique on the historical impacts of Manifest Destiny and the continued subjugation of Native American tribes, while also connecting a mysterious and ancient past with the familiar present.”